


You Can't Say No

by ikeded_jpeg



Category: South Park
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bisexual Male Character, F/F, F/M, Freeform, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Genderfluid, Genderfluid Character, How Do I Tag, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Immortal Kenny McCormick, Kenny McCormick-centric, Love/Hate, M/M, Magical Realism, My First AO3 Post, My First South Park Fic, My First Work in This Fandom, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pansexual Character, Please Don't Hate Me, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Superheroes, Tags May Change, The Author Regrets Everything, Why Did I Write This?, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:07:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25667176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ikeded_jpeg/pseuds/ikeded_jpeg
Summary: He stared long and hard at Mysterion, wishing he could just open his mouth and object- explain what happened and why he did it but once again he found himself silent. "Exactly. It's all your fault and you know it." It wasn't, it neverwas.Why couldn't they understand him. Why couldn't he and rest of the guys think about his side- but he guessed it was just so much easier to pin the blame all on him. After all, they could be right- everything was his fault and it always would be.
Relationships: Bebe Stevens/Wendy Testaburger, Craig Tucker/Tweek Tweak, Dougie O'Connell/Leopold "Butters" Stotch, Karen McCormick/Tricia Tucker, Kenny McCormick/New Kid | Douchebag, Kyle Broflovski/Stan Marsh
Comments: 9
Kudos: 22





	1. A City in the Middle of Fucking Nowhere

**Author's Note:**

> this chapter is a bit of filler to introduce ya to a bit of the world, people, and the new kid lol  
> this takes place when the majority of the characters are like 19 or 20 since legal  
> it might not be that great, since I'm sorta rusty on the writing front but I was inspired sO

You know, he never believed he knew what normal was. His parents had never stayed in the same town or city for too long, they never tried getting along, and they never really tried to get to know him. They were too busy constantly trying to keep their family reclusive. He had watched kids play together through his window, seen couples and kids all talk and smile, he was pretty sure that was normal. Then again, what was normal? Normal wass decided by the beholder, maybe everyone was like his family behind closed doors- maybe all kids could grow plants and heal wounds by touch, maybe all kids could summon fire, and maybe all kids had parents who hated each other.

It was this thought that helped him sleep at night. Every single night and this thought was a constant even when they were in the middle of some drive to a new home.

By the time he was fifteen he had lived in nearly every state of America, and by seventeen he had lived in over 60 different shitty apartments and motels. He guessed at least the traveling was nice... but now he was able to live on his own, allowed to try what he thought was a normal life. He chose a town surrounded by mountains, not really taking the time to look into their economy or media and news. He just got his brand new used car and drove straight down to South Park and crossed his fingers that it would be a hodunk place with no gripes towards newcomers. His little box of things clattered next to him and he couldn't wait to see that apartment he bought online. He could probably befriend his neighbors, teach them sign language and keep his little plant problem a secret. If there was one thing his parents had ever told him it was to hide what he could do. He thought that maybe it was rude to show people things like that, but a sheltered life would do that to you.

He drove down the interstate, surprised by the steady stream of cars. He wrote it off as some kind of tourist thing and turned up the radio. "Waiting on you, again, so I don't take the blame. Run away, but-" He shrieked in the back of his throat, swerving to avoid some asshole on the road. Angrily he stuck up the finger, changed lanes and watched for the exit. Only a few more miles till a new home sweet home and a rest stop. Hot damn was he ready for this. He grinned, a small giggle coming from him. What if he found someone who could make him sing like a canary?

It was a nice thought.

It only took a few more miles before he started seeing a skyline. That was wrong, it's the middle of fucking nowhere it couldn't be real. Couldn't. He glanced at the navigator on his phone and felt like screaming. Fuck.

_Fuck_

This isn't goddamn right what the fuck is this- it made _no sense_

He drove into the city, taking in the sights and turning down his music. "-ade me do, I'm with somebody new ooh baby, baby I'm d-" He cocked his head at a small group chattering excitedly to some guy looking like he came straight out of some hardware store, holding some kind of altered drill? _'Tool nuts, probably.'_ and pretended it wasn't some kind of strange to him. People in general were strange to him actually, but somehow he had survived highschool so whatever. He stopped paying attention to the streets, going back to the road and making his way to his new apartments.

A few more miles in he found the sort of run down single building apartment complex he'd live in for now. It wasn't hard to see why the property value on this place was so low, the lot was surrounded by torn asphalt and scorch marks. It looked like someone went ballistic with some kind of giant hammer or something, but it would do.

The black-haired male parked, exited the car and patted the door before retrieving what little he owned from the passenger side and made his way to the building. The rest could be grabbed later. He walked up to the door, being bumped into by a cute blond with doe eyes. "Oh- well ah, I'm sorry- I-ah, wasn't watching where I was going..." He murmured, knuckles knocking together and smiling apologetically at sap in front of him. He just gave a nod, grabbing his phone from the top of his box. 'It's fine.' He turned the screen around to the blond. "Well... I should get going!" He left a moment later, waving and keeping a duffle bag close to himself. The indigo eyed teen shrugged and went inside.

He was brought to his room by one of the staff, a girl with a sad looking face and dull brown hair. "I... work here from 7 to 9, if you wanna see me at the front desk." She smiled at him, slowly unlocking his door and setting the keys on his box after. He gave a nod, walked in and waved bye. She seemed nice, shame he didn't catch her name though.

He set down everything on a table, it paid to buy places furnished, and left to get whatever was left in the trunk. It was another single trip, waving to the sad looking girl and going up to his floor via stairs. He dropped the luggage bag of clothes onto a mattress and stretched. Driving for eight straight hours took some out of you. He looked around, going back to the room with the coffee table and small sofa with a smile. Picking up his phone and unlocking it a second later he sent a message to his Dad.

**me:** i arrived.

**Dad:** That's nice Aaron  
**Dad:** Be careful sport

**me:** okay.

Aaron set down his phone, breathing a sigh from his nose and getting down to sorting out his belongings and making this new place homier.


	2. Cities are Terrible

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to anyone who was patient enough to wait for this chapter- honestly this took me a m o n t h and it's not as long as i wanted it to be, two days instead of three- ahsbdf im getting ahead of myself  
> enjoy :)  
> another quick note, cause she's doing this for me i might as well advertise herrrr  
> go subscribe to my friend [kirk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icey_TheRicey/pseuds/Icey_TheRicey) and read her story [flightless](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25370584)

Waking up that morning felt awkward, not only was his back aching but he had woken up a few times from... unease? Maybe he was a little worried about this city. It was so large but he had never heard of it before. Staring forward, he sat up and carefully popped his back and sighed softly. Today marked his first official job hunt- though he hoped it was _nothing_ like the movies. He may have very little common sense but he was pretty damn sure that you didn't just walk into a random place and ask for an interview... correct?

Well yes, as it turned out that's exactly what you do and he was completely and utterly overwhelmed by the idea of even trying to get one. For the past few hours he's tried fast food places and little retail jobs but no one exactly wanted a mute for those kinds of things. It wasn't his fault, he just... it was hard to speak. He wandered around the city some more, still pissed off at how developed the stupid place was. "Are you gonna stand out here and waste valuable space or are you gonna fucking move?" He blinked owlishly at a larger man, head tilted in question and confused. "Listen here douchebag, I could call the police on you. Get a move on." All the big man got was a hesitant nod and a glance around before he walked off. "hEY-" He paid no mind to the light haired brunette, going into his next building of interest, a sky climbing office. The man had chased after him, somewhat wobbling, and glaring straight at him. "You can't ignore me!" Aaron did so anyways, smiling at the girl, or was it a boy, behind the front desk once he noticed them. "Welcome to South Park: Computing and Information, how can I help you?" He glanced around, looking for some kind of pronoun pin- because mini PSA these are valid. 'THEY/THEM' was emblazed in bright, swirly letters on a plaque in front of them instead.

He made a motion to his throat, signing a quick 'mute' and hoping they knew what it meant. "Kid! You can't fucking _ignore_ me!" The stormy eyed receptionist rolled their eyes at him. "Cartman, shouldn't you be harassing your secretary in your office?" The brunette from earlier gawked at them, as if he was mortally offended by them somehow. They just stared back at him, long and hard. "S... shut up Wendy Testicles." They grinned menacingly and waved as he walked off. "Bye, _fatass._ " They whispered that last bit under their breath before turning back their attention on the guy in front of them. "It's Wendyl, actually, Wendyl Testaburger. Cartman is an asshole about that kind of thing- you are?" They handed him a note pad and pen after a few seconds of waiting for an answer, making him give a shy upward tilt of the lips. 'thank you. im aaron. hiring?' He wrote it down quickly, turning the pad to them and glancing down. "We have paid interns, but it's just minimum wage unless... you have certifications for a higher position?" He thought for a second, shook his head, and wrote again. 'one year of online college, moving to community?' 

If they cringed at how bad his grammar was they definitely didn't show it. "We have a community college nearby, but looking at the university might be worth it to you- there might be some places in different cities... do you have a phone number? I could text you the addresses." They handed over a packet, a job application once he looked at it, and shook his head. 'not a working one?' "Right, well you can fill that out in the waiting area and I'll be right here if you have any questions." He nodded his thanks and went to sit down, carefully filling out the application and hoping it sounded professional enough. He never really had a job before but anytime they moved his parents would put a few twenties into a jar and tell him it was the emergency fund- turns out it was his going-away present once he turned eighteen.

He glanced over it and mouthed along with some of his answers just to see if it was natural sounding before nodding and quickly handing it to Wendyl. "Oh- its only been fifteen minutes." They looked over to him from the computer, pen stilling from whatever they were writing from behind the desk. He just shrugged in response. "Right... well here, there's some other places you might be interested in, both for work and school and that's my number in the corner. I wasn't done yet but... it should be enough." He took the lined paper they handed over, staring up at them in awe before looking down and smiling to himself. He turned, waved over his shoulder, and ran off to continue his search. The sheet was filled with addresses and places he didn't recognize. A chance to explore even more of the city he supposed, but first he was gonna stop by where ever they sold phones- just so he could add his number to his resumes. 

Though he wasn't sure what a phone place would look like... so it turned into a guessing game. He'd walk into a store, look around, and look sheepish before walking back out. It was pretty fun, and if he wasn't so dead set to adding a phone number to his resume he probably would have tried to apply to these shops. He never knew you could have fun window shopping- his parents had almost exclusively bought online so this was... well, a new experience. He noticed the name before he went into the next spot of interest. Wendyl had written it down as one of the places hiring.

"W-w-wELcome to Tweek Bros. C-Ca-Coffee." He tilted his head at a twitching blonde, waving and looking around. It was homey, not too crowded and not too empty. He wasn't sure if you could fall in love with a place but he was already so into this atmosphere. It made everything else feel smaller. He felt safe. "What ca-can we get you?" Aaron looked around the menu before making a gesture for some kind of pen. "Oh! U-Uh..." He was given a pad and pencil in turn, shaky hands delicately handing them over. 'where 2 get phones?' He passed over the pad, the blond reading it over. "There's a D-Mobile on Ma-ain Street by the post off-aCk-ice, it's only a few sta-sta-streets over." 'thanks.' He bought a few cookies before running off to look for this so called D-Mobile.

It didn't take long, but on the way he had to stop due to some kind of all out brawl between some giant hulking man and a guy in a wheelchair. It was... intriguing to say the least but he went around it as best he could.

Walking into the store he had to take a second to adjust to the strong scent of shellfish and saltwater, glancing around and wondering what he was supposed to do. "Hello sir, how can I help you today." He blinked wide at the salesperson. To say he even remotely enjoyed trying to figure out what he was looking for would be lies and slander, all he wanted was a fucking _phone_ not a _car._ It was overly complicated, made no sense, and he was ready to scream by the time he left with something called an unlimited plan and what could qualify as a small tablet in a weird fire red and grass green marble design and you know what- he didn't even understand this stupid thing. It was always old flip phones and hand me downs from his parents but now he had to figure out how to use this... _this._

So instead of continuing his job search he looked up unboxing videos on his old, Galaxy Spica and set up everything before shooting a text to Wendyl and asking if they could add this to his resume.

**Wends:** Sure! And if you ever need anything feel free to message me :-) 

**me:** 👌 

He smiled, slowly placing down his phone and looking out his window. It wasn't too late, but he decided that maybe... this job hunting could wait for tomorrow, and he could sleep just a little more.

Aaron wouldn't honestly admit it but he felt a little groggy once he found himself awake. He spent a grand total of twelve hours deep in the blissful state of sleep... and he hated it, of course it was a nice change of pace- he had _never_ slept more than seven growing up. His parents made sure to instill routines into him, made sure to keep him busy and distracted and away from the outside world. Sleeping in was freeing... but also a huge mistake. Preparing for the day had seemed to go a little slower too, he took time to pick out clothes and clean his glasses until he deemed them perfect and smiled to himself. There was a quick hum of contentment before he decided to just look around today, find any sites worth seeing, maybe eat something new. Everything was so different now, after all.

He texted Wendyl about it and they told him about a nearby museum and how large it was, and since they had a break later... they'd take him.

Until then though he had to kill time, so he guessed he would just walk down whatever street and find hidden gems in the surroundings. Boy was he wrong, but concrete jungles always seemed to have its own comforting charm. He loved seeing the slightly worn down bits, places some would call dingy and old but he found the imperfections endearing in an otherwise perfect utopia of human life. His eyes trailed along cracks in the pavement, stopped to admire patches of grass and vines that battled their way to the surface, smiled when he heard a bird chip and arguing in the distance.

He stepped into an alleyway, adjusting his shirt so it wasn't crinkled or pulled up over his jeans. A gentle hum came from him, fingers rubbing along the fire patterned hem before pausing. A man was staring at him, knife clutched in hand and looking startled. "...?" His head tilted in silent question but he didn't hear any kind of response in turn. "..." The man growled lowly, keeping his dagger pointed towards from his silent counterpart.

"Empty your pockets- _do it._ " Aaron sized up the man, taking in the frantic tone and shaky hands and pale complexion. He didn't think this man looked very healthy, and the knife made him nervous- the jittery nature made the blade jerky. "What? DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME? Hurry up! Empty them, stop staring." Instead he flicked his gaze around, looking for an escape route but realized there were two more men behind him in the same state as the first. A dangerous situation... might as well comply. So with a nod he started carefully rifling through his pockets. "Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up." The man in front of him glared and kept whispering it like a mantra, his heart immediately picked up the pace.

He tried to reason, holding up a finger, pulling out a few loose coins and old wrappers and humming a trembling tune. "Yo Johnny, one rock bet he's a 'tard." He didn't lift his head, pulling out a few dollars from his wallet as inconspicuously as he could and holding it out to the first guy. "That can't be all you have." His lip trembled, holding out his hand further with eyes downcast. " _That can't be all you have!_ " The man charged at him, instincts finally kicking in for the indigo eyed teen before he ducked and thrust his hands in the air. The cash fluttering from his fingertips, roots spearheading them and rushing towards all three men. "FUC-" He was cut off by his own scream, the tear of flesh, that biting smell of blood.

Aaron took a second to process what he did, hearing a faint rustle at his feet. The cash had just hit the floor. "..." He surveyed the damage, eyes hovering over things before turning away and walking out of the alley. Maybe no one would know. A rustling and loud shifts and a few bursts of concrete later and no one would know. _Not even him_.

He decided that was enough exploring for the day.

So instead he made his way over to Wendyl's office as quickly as he could, eyes straight ahead and demeanor noticeably downtrodden. It wasn't long, a few turns and a few blocks before he found the building and sat by the closest bench. He thought about what happened, leaning back and letting his eyes wander. _'What if they had families?'_ He saw a woman wearing white holding a child's hand. _'What were their names?'_ He glanced at the office building, reading the 'South Park: Computing and Information' in its large boring font. _'Would they be..._ missed?" Voice lower than gentle and rough from neglect

"What was that?"

He nearly jumped out of his skin, eyes wide as he looked towards the source. Wendyl giggled, the barret from yesterday looking flatter than before with a large 'SHE/HER' pin, her hair reaching past their shoulders. He nodded a greeting and she seemed just... a _little_ upset from the lack of words.

"You ready to go?" He shrugged, looking up at the sky and realized how far the sun had crawled from earlier. "Hmm... then maybe we should get some snacks to sneak in and then you'll be prepared?" He just nodded curtly as a confirmation before standing and letting her lead the way. Wendyl didn't seem the type to make a lot of small talk, she, instead, sort of looked like she was enjoying their silence in a bustling city. The bustling city that had lost occupants by his hands.

He almost wished she would say something, the sounds of other people and their conversations may have rang his ear loudly but it made no difference to distract him. His thoughts kept drifting to earlier, the realization, that screams- the ripping of delicate skin and tough organs and already terribly shredded clothes- the scent of metal flooding his senses after and making him nearly gag right there. He had to pause, thoughts rushing and breath trying to even out. Gods, it happened way too fast. He still wasn't too sure if it was real. Maybe it was some kind of waking nigh-

He felt someone put a hand on his shoulder, looked up to once again see his new friends storm cloud eyes bore into his holding worry. "Aaron? You alright?" He blinked and tilted his head. "You didn't come in with me, just stood out here..." She let go of him, pushing back against a door and walking in backward into some little corner store. "Staring at nothing?" He shrugged and followed her, looking around and seeing the straw haired blond watching them behind the counter. "He okay now?" Wendyl nodded, smiling a little. "That's Kenny, he's one of the original hoe dunk kids from this town- before it became all industrialized. This is Aaron, he's mute?"

"You bet. Nice to meet you." He gave the dark-haired teen a not so perfect toothy grin, being returned with a nod and turning his attention to the junk food around the store. He could hear the two talking in whispers as he looked through bags of chips and brand named candy. "You... uh, sure he's okay?"

"I've only known him a day or two, Ken... I'm not sure." He could hear that worry in her voice, half tuning it out while looking between something called Coon Cakes and Cheesy Poofs. "Whatever you wanna think, then." Light footsteps went to the other side of the store and some kind of loud machine whirling in the background. He glanced back over at the cashier and took a second to stand up. the Coon Cakes seemed reasonable- even though he had no clue what the fuck those were, and he was sure they wouldn't be anything... too bad. He walked up and dropped the little box onto the counter.

The blonde stared at him, sighing a little. "You might like Snacky Cakes instead of these, they're cheaper and just... over there." He gestured with a small tilt of his head. He smiled a thank you and started to turn and grab the box when- "I got it, I'll put it up later." Aaron gave a light laugh and went to go find these so called Snacky Cakes.

Of course they weren't too hard to find, just a few chip bags away from the Coon Cakes and they pretty much looked the exact same. Instead of Coon it said Snacky and instead of some masked guys head it was a golden bear, but besides that the packaging was on point. Weird- but Kenny was right, they were a few cents cheaper... probably not much for some people but it did make a difference to him.

He came back up to the register, waving to Wendyl and adding the box to her drinks and paying for the both of them. It was just the nice thing to do- since she was taking them around the museum and all. "Are you ready to go now?" He just nodded, waving a bye to Kenny and grinning. "Come on then."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay honestly fuck cartman, don't ya think? this is a little wonky, because my writing style changes a little based on feelings and stuff-  
> hopefully its consistent enough though  
> i stan wendy being genderfluid, as said on her character sheet in game, so i put it in here  
> not gone lie ill actually be using most of the info on their character sheets to determine sexuality and gender and all that besides some uh  
> changes and headcannons and making things make more sense in the reality im putting them in  
> but well get onto those later ;)  
> once again, writing could take me anywhere from a week to a month... sorry?


	3. Hello! :D

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I basically advertise because i didn't make a chapter for reasons listed :D

So you're probably wondering where yesterday's update went- 

I decided to take on a new story, a project as a gift to my friends... [Our Names Don't Matter](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26811223/chapters/65408050) based on a few [Among Us](http://www.innersloth.com/gameAmongUs.php) games we played.

This is going to, sadly, be pushed to the side and worked on when inspiration strikes, or whenever I relay FBW

I haven't forgotten about this, especially since I have the lovely [Kirk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icey_TheRicey/pseuds/Icey_TheRicey) [aka Icey_TheRicey] who I beta for and loves this story and keeps bugging about it when she's not even iN THE FANDOM smh 

Please support her and her works by the way if you need something to entertain you while waiting for this to update! [Flightless](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25370584), is a [Harley Kenner/Peter Parker](https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Harley%20Keener*s*Peter%20Parker/works) fic with Omegaverse Birds and semi-toxic relationships with fluff and [Iron Will](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26182561), another [Harley/Peter](https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Harley%20Keener*s*Peter%20Parker/works) fanfic where Peter's a badass that has been flying under the radar of the avengers and Harley is pretty much replacing Nate Richards as Iron Lad lol- gayness ensues??

By the way, she doesn't know I'm doing this so watch us fight in the comments lol-

Some other people who have better content than me, but don't know me, are [Simplyable](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Simplyable/pseuds/Simplyable) who writes aMAZING fucking [Mark/Ethan](https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Mark%20Fischbach*s*Ethan%20Nestor/works) fics, one finished and one continuing, [ListeningBoy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ListeningBoy)who makes so many [DBH](https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Detroit:%20Become%20Human%20\(Video%20Game\)/works) one shots that make me so checking sOft and just check out the [South Park](https://archiveofourown.org/tags/South%20Park/works) tag in general because I don't have any good authors I'm following who make South Park stuff so... if you're just here for tHAT WOOOO

If you haven't seen it yet I also made a little fluffy one-shot with Aaron and Stan's gang where they play a game of [Among Us](https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Among%20Us%20\(Video%20Game\)/works) called [Everyone I Love Is Gonna Die](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26503066) that sadly isn't tied in with this at all :(

Thank you for keeping up with me, and I'm sorry

**Author's Note:**

> oh jesus this is a train wreck I thought up while playing the fractured but whole and I don't even know why I decided this would be a good idea lol  
> I don't really know how to use ao3 or HTML but I'm trying I swear ;-;  
> updates might be anywhere within a few days to a month possibly?  
> Aaron is pretty naive to the world, and I'm totally using that lmao  
> he's been homeschooled which adds another layer to this  
> yeah I'm letting his parents screw him over  
> sorry laddie


End file.
